Well I was at the record store yesterday in Pasadena and it was great fun, digging through the bins, the thrill of the hunt. I've been going there for many years and they've always been reasonably priced and I guess they still are comparatively, but they're starting to price me out. The supply of clean used vinyl seems to be drying up as prices are skyrocketing. I had to reluctantly pass on a couple records that are on my wantlist, namely Physical Graffiti ($35), Dreamboat Annie ($27), and Street Survivors ($20). Today I feel good about my choices, though maybe I should have bit on the Zeppelin but it's not the greatest sounding recording, thus not being "vinyl-worthy" in my book (similar to Elaine's spongeworthiness). The Heart and the Skynyrd records are not my favorite albums either, not vinyl-worthy, at least not at those prices.
What passes my criterion though is Mr. Left hand of God himself, Mike Bloomfield.
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This is a wonderful blues record, a blind buy but I listened to the whole thing and loved it. He's in good voice on the album (from 1979) and of course his guitar playing is blazing and soulful and just plain awesome. The vinyl is clean, looks like it's barely been played, and sounds dynamic, clear, full-bodied and wonderful.
Also had to snag this Stones record:
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Had to shell out 20 bucks but was totally worth it. I love this album even though it's not regarded as one of their absolute classics. I love the ballads Memory Motel, and Fool to Cry, but the rest of the funky rocking tracks are great fun, with a groovy bottom end. It's clean as well and sounds great, vinyl-worthy for sure with that vintage '70s soundscape that I like to show off my system.
Also shelled out 20 bucks for this great Peter Gabriel era Genesis, prog rock par excellence:
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I need spectacular sonics to spend 20 bucks on a used single LP album, and this delivers in spades. Rounded out my haul with some cheaper stuff, as in David Lindley, Rick Derringer, Jethro Tull, and Harry Chapin. Haven't listened to those yet, suspect they may need some cleaning but luckily I'm armed with a VPI cleaner, with fluid from Musical Surroundings.
I also saw Neil Young's On the Beach but that was over 40 bucks. I already have the reissue that I bought new for 20-something. It would be nice to have an old pressing but the reissue sounds great and I'm happy with it. I love that record store but I'm going to have to stop going. The game is getting too rich for my blood. I'll have to settle for my thousands of records that I've pretty much run out of room for.
Anyways, my belief is that human hearing is God awful as far as sweaty animals go, thus Redbook is good enough quality as opposed to hi-res. But vinyl is good enough as well, a 60dB SNR is plenty good enough for my favorite vintage tunes. I've heard some recordings with SINAD in the 30s and you know, it's not that bad. So maybe my tolerance is high, my standards low, or maybe I'm just a half-deaf human. But I love my vinyl and suspect I always will.
Just looked up that Rolling Stones album. Amazon has it in Ultra HD and Atmos if you are interested.